Software Vulnerability Disclosure and its Impact on Exploitation: An Empirical Study

In a networked world, computer systems are highly exposed to the attacks of worms / viruses. Many of these attacks stem from the vulnerabilities in the software code. One of the issues that plagues the information security area is the publicly available information about the vulnerabilities in popular software applications. This information has been put to good as well as bad use by people in the technical community. Software vendors and the anti-virus companies develop patches to resolve the software vulnerability. Hackers and virus writers make use of the same information to write malicious code to exploit the vulnerability. This exploratory study analyzes whether the information availability has an impact on the exploitation of the vulnerability. This study also considers some of the characteristics of the vulnerability information and its impact on the exploitation. Two of the factors thus considered, namely, the criticality, and cumulativeness of the vulnerability was found to have a significant impact on the actual exploitation

Connecting to the Next Generation Mobile Desktop

Mobile phones have evolved over the years from a plain device that allowed voice communication to the present day smart phones that are capable of variety of tasks. Much touted smart phone lacks some of the rudimentary business as well as other functions that are available in a traditional laptop/desktop. This article proposes a new system called Next Generation Mobile Desktop (NGMD) that provides desktop equivalent functions on a functional mobile phone. Proposed NGMD leverage some of the emerging technologies to offer enhanced services to the user. This article discusses some of the existing as well as new mobile technologies and then proposes the architecture for the NGMD. This article also discusses some of the services offered by NGMD and provides illustrative examples of them. We believe NGMD capable phones would dominate the corporate market and free up the user from carrying multiple devices while on the road

Predictive factors for pregnancy after intrauterine insemination: A prospective study of factors affecting outcome

Objective : To determine the predictive factors for pregnancy after controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH)/intrauterine insemination (IUI). Design : Prospective observational study. Setting : University-level tertiary care center. Patients and Methods : 366 patients undergoing 480 stimulated IUI cycles between November 2007 and December 2008. Interventions : Ovarian stimulation with gonadotrophins was initiated and a single IUI was performed 36 h after triggering ovulation. Main Outcome Measures : The primary outcome measures were clinical pregnancy and live birth rates. Predictive factors evaluated were female age, duration of infertility, indication for IUI, number of preovulatory follicles, luteinizing hormone level on day of trigger and postwash total motile fraction (TMF). Results : The overall clinical pregnancy rate and live birth rate were 8.75% and 5.83%, respectively. Among the predictive factors evaluated, the duration of infertility (5.36 vs. 6.71 years, P = 0.032) and the TMF (between 10 and 20 million, P = 0.002) significantly influenced the clinical pregnancy rate. Conclusion : Our results indicate that COH/IUI is not an effective option in couples with infertility due to a male factor. Prolonged duration of infertility is also associated with decreased success, and should be considered when planning treatment

Symptomatic unilateral pleural effusion: A rare presentation of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome

Isolated pleural effusion is a rare presentation of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. The pathogenesis of this disorder has not been fully elucidated. It supports the role of systemic factors rather than transudation of fluid from the surface of enlarged ovaries. This article describes a rare case of isolated pleural effusion following controlled ovarian hyperstimulation during an in-vitro fertilization cycle